Scottish election 2026: Counting begins to discover next Falkirk West and Falkirk East & Linlithgow MSPs
Counting is underway at Grangemouth Sports Complex for the local votes in the Scottish parliament elections.
Six candidates in Falkirk West and six in Falkirk East & Linlithgow are vying to be the next MSP to represent the constituents at Holyrood.
Returning officer Kenneth Lawrie announced that the first ballot boxes would be opened at 9am and dozens of staff immediately swung into action in the first phase of counting.
The result for Falkirk West is anticipated to be around 4pm and then 4.30pm for Falkirk East & Linlithgow.
The regional vote for Central Scotland and Lothian West is expected around 5pm.
Across Scotland a total of 129 MSPs will be elected. Of that total, 73 represent local constituencies.
The rest of the MSPs are drawn from eight regions which together cover the whole of Scotland. Each region elects seven MSPs.
Voters selected from a party or independent candidate to represent their region, marking one cross on the peach regional ballot paper.
MSPs are chosen for the Scottish Parliament using an electoral system called Additional Member System (AMS), a form of proportional representation.
The number of constituency MSPs elected for each party is counted and compared to the proportion of votes each party received in each region.
Additional MSPs are elected from each political party's regional list. The number of additional MSPs is used to reflect the proportion of votes each party received in the second ballot.